Injuries derailed Stephen Weiss’ debut season with Detroit, but the Red Wings seem (maybe curiously) optimistic that he’ll be good to go next season. In fact, he might even be healthy by training camp.

That’s the word that Red Wings GM Ken Holland passed along – albeit through a trainer – to MLive.com on Friday:

“(Trainer) Piet Van Zant texted him two days ago,” Holland said. “He said he’s feeling great, he’s training hard; he’s played some shinny (pick-up hockey). So far all reports are he’s healed and ready to roll in September.”

These bits from MLive.com do cast some doubt upon how authoritative that thumbs-up might be, though:

Holland told Weiss he only wants to hear from him if there is a setback. So no news is good news.

No doubt about it, the Red Wings faced some serious injury issues in 2013-14 and still made the playoffs. Imagining a healthier Weiss, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg (among others) can evoke thoughts of a nice improvement, especially if Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Jurco continue to improve.

Still, it’s anyone’s guess if Weiss, 31, will really be much healthier in 2014-15. The Red Wings signed him to a five-year, $24.5 million deal in the summer of 2013 only to see his injury concerns carry over after a miserable final season with the Florida Panthers in 2012-13.

“The biggest thing is health,” Holland said. “If we can get to training camp (Sept. 19) and get Pav, Z, (Darren) Helm, Weiss on the ice we’re optimistic we got the potential to be a decent hockey club.”

Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk has been the most difficult goalies to score against this season. Leave it to a high-level player like Leon Draisaitl to make it look this, well, “easy.”

Draisaitl scored his 13th goal of 2016-17 by capping this pretty give-and-go play with Benoit Pouliot. You can see the frustration from Dubnyk at the end of the tally, as if he was saying “How was I supposed to stop that?” (though probably with more colorful language).

Draisaitl came into Friday with five goals and three assists in his last five games, so he’s been almost unstoppable lately.